Never say never! Homemade Velveeta Cheese

At BBTI we learned from some veteran missionaries that when on the field when you ask for something specific many people will tell you "Oh, that isn't here, or that can't be done." But he said, "Keep looking around, and keep asking! When we were in Cambodia, many people said it couldn't be found and eventually we would find it!" Thanks Bro. Schnell!!

Well we have been wanting some really home made macaroni and cheese, but it's not the same without velveeta cheese added to your cheddar! The velveeta makes it creamy. So I finally found a recipe for it at www.copykat.com. Next on my list was to find paprika and gelatin--I wasn't sure they could be found here.

I started asking around and had several "No's." But then I found all the ingredients!!!

• 1 teaspoon gelatin

• 1 tablespoon water

• 12 ounces Colby cheese

• 2 ounces Parmesan cheese

• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

• 2 tablespoons dry milk powder

• 2/3 cup milk

Here are the instructions with pictures.

Step 1--make sure you have electricity!

Get a small loaf pan--or in my case oval pan and line with plastic wrap.

Next, dissolve 1 tsp. of unflavored gelatin in 1 tbsp of water---in my case, make sure you use drinking water since you aren't cooking it. Just let it sit and it will set.

I couldn't find colby cheese and haven't explored some of the other cheeses that are out there yet. I had one block of Kraft cheese left and this other bought here to make roughly 12oz of shredded cheese.

I didn't find parmesean cheese other than this...I used 1/2 c.

When reading about making velveeta from several websites I found that you can use whatever cheese you want, it just changes the taste slightly, but isn't a big deal.

Get your blender set up so it's ready to go. Add shredded cheese, parmesean cheese, paprika, and 2 Tbsp of powdered milk to your mixing bowl or blender. The powdered milk here comes in these huge boxes or bags that are very expensive because of the size. So I bought this whitener that I've used to make powdered milk before.

Then scald 2/3 cup of milk on the stove---this is the stage right before it boils.

Turn the heat off and add your gelatin/water mix. It should be firm like gelatin now. Scoop it in and whisk till dissolved--doesn't take long.

Quickly add your milk mixture into your cheese mixture and blend up. You don't want the gelatin to set too early, so the recipe's I've read said do it quickly.

I don't have a blender so my mixer has this attachment that I used. I may buy a blender in the future, I just haven't wanted to spend the money on it yet.

When it is mixed thoroughly pour into your lined loaf pan.

 

Cover with more plastic wrap and place in fridge for about 3 hours till it sets.

So that's where I'm at now....I'll let you know later if it works and tastes good.

My cost for this maybe $7 or NPR 700 

After I make mac & cheese I'll let you know if it was worth it. Maybe I'll make it for all my missionary friends here as a Christmas gift...haha.